Hair loss is a common problem experienced by many, both men and women, with the loss of hair being temporary or a gradual process leading to a permanent loss. There are numerous reasons for hair loss, including for example a deficiency/excess in vitamins, minerals, or other elements required for a healthy diet, hormonal changes, a trauma (such as that resulting from a surgical procedure, an accident, excessive weight loss, or a stressful event such as pregnancy), stress, a medical condition such as diabetes, male/female patterned baldness, or age. In other instances hair loss may result from the intake of certain medications, be a side-effect of certain drugs, or result from the excessive use of hair treatments.
The solution to the problem of hair loss, whether the hair loss is temporary, progressive or permanent, varies from patient to patient. An individual's decision on how to cope with their hair loss is based on a combination of factors, typically including whether the individual is male or female, their age, ethnicity, genetic disposition, health and diet considerations, personal goals or desires, and/or the stage of their hair loss. In addition, the availability and associated cost of options available, the inconvenience caused in terms of preparation time, procedure time, recovery time, pain and/or discomfort, peer tolerance or acceptance, input provided from friends, family and consultants, and emotion also play a role.
Depending upon the reason for hair loss, the solutions to remedy the temporary or permanent problem are as numerous as the reasons for hair loss. Solutions including, but not limited to, the use of products that can be applied topically to promote hair growth and/or reduce hair loss, special shampoos and other applications, wigs, laser treatments or surgical solutions such as hair transplantations.
Hair transplantation procedures are well-known, and typically involve (e.g., in a patient having male pattern baldness) harvesting donor hair grafts from the side and back fringe areas (“donor areas”) of the patient's scalp, and implanting the harvested follicular units in a bald area (“recipient area”). Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,746 discloses a hair transplantation system utilizing a robotic system, including a robotic arm and a hair follicle introducer associated with the robotic arm. An imaging system is used to produce a three-dimensional image of the patient's scalp, which is used to plan the locations to receive hair grafts. Hair transplantation procedures that are carried out using automated (including robotic) systems or computer-controlled systems have been described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,962,192, commonly owned by the assignee of the present application, which is incorporated herein by reference. After the robotic system has been initiated and calibrated, image data of the body surface is acquired and processed by the system computer to identify objects, in particular follicular units in a donor area, for example, on a human scalp. From images of this area of interest, image segmentation and screening software identifies and selects particular follicular units of interest for harvesting from the scalp.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,806,121 and 8,104,480 (hereinafter collectively, “Bodduluri”) illustrate systems and methods for planning transplantation of follicular units into a body surface of the patient. The entire disclosures of both above-identified U.S. patents are incorporated by reference.